Syracuse Basketball: Predictions for Northeastern showdown

Josh Peelman (4-3)
Prediction: Syracuse wins 77-61

Syracuse Basketball narrowly avoided losing to in-state rival Cornell on Saturday and now must look to regroup and beat a team in Northeastern who has some confidence. The Northeastern Huskies have already beaten the likes of Harvard, Bucknell and Alabama this year, according to ESPN.com. So they’re no slouch. They score up to 73.5 points per game which is almost two points higher than the Orange.

The difference though is they haven’t faced a team of Syracuse’s caliber or defense yet. The Orange’s 2-3 zone is difficult to replicate in practice let alone against a team that plays it almost exclusively like Syracuse does. I think the Orange defense will be the difference maker here and will make it hard for Northeastern to score in this game. I expect a blowout for the first time in awhile.

This should be a double digit victory. If it isn’t, the Orange will need to start looking for answers on why they’ve been so inconsistent offensively this year. Another win by only Tyus Battle and Oshae Brissett is not something the Orange should bank on. The fact that the Orange only had two main scorers all game worked against Cornell, but it shouldn’t work against a team like Northeastern.

The Orange need to figure things out offensively and use this is a practice or warm up game for the difficult ACC stretch coming up ahead. I see Elijah Hughes rebounding with a nice performance and hopefully we’ll see another great showing from Frank Howard leading the Orange with several assists. The Orange should put the Huskies away early and never look back.